Chelsea Manning Posts First Photo as Free Transgender Woman

Chelsea Manning just released a photo of herself, her first one as a free transgender woman. She posted a photo on Instagram, captioning it “Okay, so here I am everyone!!”

This comes after she was released from military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. She served time for releasing confidential U.S. military documents to Wikileaks.

American Civil Liberties Union reporters stated that this is ““the preferred image to use in stories about Chelsea moving forward for the time being.” In previous reportings, almost all major media companies were using a black-and-white selfie of her when being reported in articles.

That image was never supposed to go public, as it was privately sent by Manning to her therapist and commanding officer as an email attachment reports the Verge.